Bayern, Barca eye Williams; FIFA drops anti-racism messaging for Club World Cup

New York Times

5 hours ago

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Hello! The star of the Euro 2024 final? His time is now.
On the way:
The man-of-the-match award at the final of Euro 2024 didn't go to Rodri (player of the tournament) or Lamine Yamal (young player of the tournament). After Spain put England to the sword, it went instead to Nico Williams.
The Athletic Club winger had thrived throughout the championship in Germany, and it was taken as read that the exposure of his flair there would be the starting gun for immediate, high-level transfer offers. Since then, however, the 22-year-old has been on standby, waiting for a club to nail their colours to his mast.
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That nobody has to this point is illogical, particularly in light of the fees being committed to transfers in the European market. Liverpool's £116m ($157m) bid for Florian Wirtz, for example, isn't the headline it would have been even five years ago. Williams' contract contains a £51m release clause, which is comparatively affordable and great value. He commands a healthy wage and Bilbao-based Athletic Club are trying to raise it — but his wing play is worth pushing the boat out for.
Twelve months on from his piece de resistance at the Euros, we might be about to see some action. Williams features right at the top of our DealSheet dispatch this morning, caught in a tug of war between Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He's had Premier League eyes on him, too — Arsenal's, most notably — but the big pushes for him are coming from La Liga and Germany's Bundesliga.
Barca's finances are so flimsy that buying players is complicated for them. If Camp Nou is the move Williams craves, then, realistically, it had to wait until now. Barca's big investment last season was Dani Olmo and they barely had the wiggle-room to drag that deal over the line. Nonetheless, they're now in the arm-wrestle for another big acquisition.
Bayern, though, are believed to have made one offer for Williams and are considering coming back with another. This feels like his moment — and to fully capitalise on the way his stock soared at the European Championship, it probably has to be.
Let's break out some of the other hot takes from our weekly recruitment update:
One final thought for the day, prompted by DealSheet: when will Newcastle United get going? The Champions League lies ahead of them, but so far, they've had no joy with Mbeumo, Liam Delap or Dean Huijsen. Time to start the car, folks.
FIFA's budget for marketing the Club World Cup would buy you two-thirds of Nico Williams. The governing body has thrown more than $50m at advertising schemes in the vain hope of avoiding the 50,000 empty seats on show during Chelsea's win over LAFC on Monday.
Part of the planning for the tournament involved discussions around anti-racism and anti-discrimination campaigns. Promotional materials were expected to be displayed inside CWC stadiums, much as they were at the men's World Cup in Qatar three years ago and the women's version in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
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Alas, they've been nowhere to be seen and Adam Crafton reports today that FIFA has quietly shelved its inclusivity initiative. The reasons for the change aren't known and FIFA won't say whether its decision involved consultation with the 32 clubs involved. It did say it has a 'firm, zero-tolerance stance against all forms of discrimination and racism' — just not one it has time to publicise for the next month in the States.
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Now then. After a couple of goalless draws and a laughable 10-0 whitewash, this is more like it: four goals, three red cards and a contest that rid the Club World Cup of its pre-season tour vibe.
Boca Juniors versus Benfica yesterday got the Gianni Infantino memo. It had an atmosphere, it swung back and forth before finishing 2-2, and it got so tasty that Ander Herrera wasn't even on the pitch when he was sent off for arguing about a penalty. James Horncastle is right: Argentina's Boca have a seductive madness about them, engendered by their colossal support.
Crucially, the sides looked well matched, which is how LAFC's Olivier Giroud wanted it to be against his former club Chelsea last night, to gauge how MLS standards match up to the Premier League. Needless to say, the comparison was more flattering than Auckland City against Bayern the previous day.
All the same, Chelsea cleaned up in a 2-0 victory without having to really go through the gears. The highlight was Pedro Neto scoring the opening goal (below) after a change of direction that sent Ryan Hollingshead sliding into the wrong hemisphere. It wasn't a walkover, but the disparity is real.
(Times ET/UK. All Club World Cup matches are shown on DAZN in the U.S. and UK, as well as other channels stated)
FIFA Club World Cup: Group E — River Plate vs Urawa Red Diamonds, 3pm/8pm; Monterrey vs Inter, 9pm/2am. Group F — Fluminense vs Borussia Dortmund, 12pm/5pm — TNT, Fubo/Channel 5; Ulsan vs Mamelodi Sundowns, 6pm/11pm.
Concacaf Gold Cup: Group B — Canada vs Honduras, 10.30pm/3.30am — Fox Sports, Fubo, VIX/Premier Sports.
I won't lie, when I read the headline 'Why Cristiano Ronaldo paints his toenails black' (as evidenced in one of his latest Instagram posts), I expected the answer to be: because he's Cristiano Ronaldo.
But no. It turns out he's following the lead of mixed-martial-arts fighters, who use a special paint to harden and guard their nails. While professional opinion on the effect of it is divided, some think the treatment protects nails from injury or infection.
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The damage footballers sustain to their feet week to week is no joke. As part of a feature idea The Athletic dreamed up in 2022, I asked former Leeds striker Matt Smith to send me a photo of his tootsies after an appearance for Millwall. One of his toenails was completely dead — 'I generally lose the big ones at least once a season,' he said — adding that he'd had it far worse. So perhaps Ronaldo is onto something.